


The Depths

by Misttiique



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Angst, Gore, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Mermaids, Torture, Violence
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-07-19
Updated: 2018-07-19
Packaged: 2019-06-12 18:08:27
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,784
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15345549
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Misttiique/pseuds/Misttiique
Summary: Keith is fearless. Fearless enough to search relentlessly to save Shiro, who was sent to the endure the Galra's Coliseum, a ruthless gladiator arena, and ends up being the Champion. Keith's journey through the ocean from the Mer kingdom of Altea to the depths of the Galra, lead him not only to Shiro but to his real identity because he's not the only one that transforms from this experience.





	The Depths

**Author's Note:**

> My piece for the Sheith Reverse Big Bang.

"Okay, look at the target. Remember, patience yields focus," Shiro murmured calmly with his deep, resounding voice. Keith closed his eyes and exhaled. He twisted his wrist and the red bayard lit up in his hand. It glowed a ruby red and in a shower of red sparks, turned into a long sword.

Keith swam forward and thrust the sword in front of him, blade swiftly piercing through the dummy. He pulled the sword out and swung it across the dummy, slicing it with wide gashes that caused it to fall to pieces in the floor. About a quarter of the dummy's torso still hung on with tiny threads of fabric still uncut.

"Your precision is improving, I'll give you that." Shiro folded his arms across his chest. "But I think what you want to do now is hold your stance a little more. And when you slice," Shiro stopped to pull Keith's arm back slightly. It was a casual hold but the amount of energy that Keith felt coming off his skin could electrify the water around them.

"Aim and don’t hold back." Shiro finished and demonstrated this by gently moving Keith's arm with the sword in hand forward.

They were training again, as they always did. Shiro was Keith's mentor, ultimately his guiding light. Today, they were sparring  with their bayards, the weapons given to the chosen Paladins of the mer-kingdom of Altea. The bayards could change according to each paladin’s liking and battle style.

Keith's garnet tail complimented his bayard, his scales turning scarlet when touched by the sun.  With the red bayard, Keith was the red paladin and his chosen weapon was the sword. It was not just any sword. It had intricate designs of red vines curling around the hilt and a fire opal in the center of it. It transformed in a shower of red sparks as if a fire were blooming in the water.

Keith's appearance echoed that same fire. His jet-black hair reached the nape of his neck and bold, bluish-violet eyes telegraphed his emotions. His rebel-like status was well-known, but he was supposedly reformed, all thanks to Shiro.

Shiro himself was striking, too, with an undercut and dark forelock. He was tall for a Mer and  others would stare at Shiro's hard, marble-like muscles. He was the Golden Boy, the leader of the paladins, at the top of his game. Shiro's bayard matched his purplish-black tail, that shoned a two-tone titanium grey and onyx, just as Keith's gleamed ruby. When his bayard was unlocked, it formed a long club with a blade on the end. It fit snugly on his right forearm and extended his reach with the curved grayish-black blade at the end.

Being a paladin carried the heavy responsibility of protecting the kingdom. For many generations, the Mer people of Altea were protected by the brave warriors against the dangers of the beasts in the sea and other dangerous species of Mers, in particular, the Galra. The deep-dwelling Mers, distinguished by their bioluminescent tails, could be easily spotted by the eerie glow in the dark, ominous depths, prowling for their next prey. They were known for taking over and enslaving cities, kingdoms and even entire reefs.

As if on cue, the alarm of the Altean castle flared in sharp streaks of blue light across the training room's walls. The sirens sounded and Princess Allura’s voice followed it.

"Attention all paladins! There's a Galra attack on the Olkari region. Everyone to the armory to suit up now."

"Looks like a busy day ahead of us," Keith said with a grin, already swimming to the door.

—————

"From what we know, the Galra started causing trouble. They're snatching up Mers again," Pidge said, staring at the screen in front of her. Blue light reflected off her glasses and her emerald green tail swished thoughtfully, the triangular green markings at the apex of her tail glowing in the light.

"Galra snatching up Mers, again?" Lance commented in a bored tone. He was perched at the top of a desk and watched as the blue light from the other screens caused his cyan blue tail to shimmer. Unlike Pidge's triangular markings, his were swirls and curves on the side of his tail.

"That'll be the fourth time this month. Personally, I think it's a tactic to get to the kingdom again. I mean, we're one of the strongest kingdoms in this quadrant of the seas, and I'm pretty sure we're high up there on the list of kingdoms to take over," Hunk commented. His tail had hues of yellow and gold, the colour of warmth and the sun.

Princess Allura twirled a long strand of white hair around her finger, brow furrowing. "You have a point. I think that this may be a hostage situation."

As the princess of Altea, it was her duty to protect her people and she led the paladins in missions not just around the kingdom but also in their quarter of the seas. She, in particular, hated the Galra for what they had done, especially when the Galra had killed her father, King Alfor, when they had fought over a treaty for peace in the seas. Royalty was in her blood, as seen from the pink glowing Altean marks on her face and on her shimmery pink tail, and also in her determination to protect her people against the Galra. She had sworn that with whatever power she had, she would defeat them.

"But if it's the Olkari region, it seems to be the labs that are under attack," Hunk pointed out.

"That's true because they currently have the best tech in the seas," Lance agreed.

"Or, it could very well be the quintessence they're after," Coran said. He had a tail that matched his ginger mustache and hair. As the royal advisor, he guided Allura when she first became in charge of the kingdom, just as her father had requested him to, as a last favor from his closest friend.  He was the affectionate father figure, always supportive of the team.

"Well then, I say we don't waste any more time and get down there," Keith said.

"Keith's right. Here's the plan," Shiro continued, giving detailed instructions about where each of them should position themselves and how they should attack.

They each took their bayards and, with a twist of their wrist, transformed them into their weapon on choice. Lance's bayard was aqua blue and with a flick of his wrist and a shower of blue sparks, it turned into a long, sleek blue sniper rifle. Pidge's bayard split itself into both of her hands and the pointed ends radiated up with green lightning. Hunk's bayard enlarged into a blaster the size of his arm.

Keith's eyes were on Shiro, watching as the black bayard wrapped itself around his arm in one fluid motion. Though he never mentioned it, Keith looked up to Shiro and his leadership. He acted as a good leader should, motivating the team and caring for each and every one of them, making sure that they all played their part. Keith would follow Shiro to the ends of the ocean if Shiro asked him to. Keith activated his own bayard, gripping the end tightly while waiting for Shiro’s command.

With a nod from Shiro, they left the castle grounds and swam to the fight.

—————

Frenzy would be an understatement to describe the scene they arrived upon. The number of Galra there were more than twice what they were anticipating. 

 

The Galra were similar to the Mers but they were of varying shades of purple and their nails were claw-like, able to tear through flesh. Their tails were less iridescent but glowed fluorescently in dark waters, an adaptation of bait in the lower depths, where they would usually be found. The closest colony was expected to be found in at least a thousand feet below Altea's kingdom, but no one could be sure because no one that had been there ever returned.

Basically, it was a dead end, both figuratively and literally. If you were dragged down to the Galra homeland you might as well be dragged into hell.

Currently, havoc was being wreaked in the Olkari region — the scientific labs hidden in the sea forests. Altea had been not just creating new technology, but they were trying out new ways to use the power that could be harvested from the quintessence-filled corals. Quintessence was another advantage that made Altea so powerful. Quintessence was essentially raw fuel that could be used to power everything and the material could be used to make indestructible weapons. Legend claimed the bayards were originally made up of quintessence and thus allowed it to be able to transform into those weapons.

With the power of quintessence also came the responsibility to use it for good. The Galra had a whole mine of their own but continued to look for more sources to build their empire, taking over kingdoms to get more quintessence. No one knew exactly what they had used it for, but rumors circulated that it was used to create monsters.

When the paladins reached the site, the protective barrier of the Olkari labs shimmered weakly before disintegrating in streaks of electricity. Doors were ripped open and Mers inside screamed for help. Rushing in according to plan, Keith and Pidge took the left wing to retrieve whatever new technology they had and their blueprints while Lance and Hunk took the right wing of the lab facilities to find the hostages. Shiro went alone to the quintessence storage at the back of the facility.

Shiro could be alone without any issue. As the leader of the paladins, he was older than the rest by a couple of years and he was the best fighter. Having trained all his life, he was exactly what you would expect from a paladin and more, with a heart of gold, the loyalty of a knight, and the bravery of a lion.

He swam in fast, curved blade of the club slicing away the remains of a door. Immediately all yellow eyes were on him. The Galra moved fast, rushing past him, sealing his way out. He smirked; he'd done this all before. Taking on a crowd like this was not a problem and he could do it with his eyes closed. He felt a movement next to his tail and, instinctively, his club shot forward until it hit home, cleaving a Galra tail. Another tried tackling him from the back and another grabbed his arms, claws raking down, drawing blood.

He swung his club and chopped at his attacker, shaking it off. Using his now free but bleeding hand, he grabbed the neck of the one on his back and threw it against the oncoming throng in the front.

—————

Meanwhile, shouts of joy and fear echoed through as Lance and Hunk entered the hostage room. Using his sniper rifle, Lance took down both the Galra at the door swiftly. Hunk pushed the door and instantly the room fell into a fearful silence. They deactivated their weapons and raised the now innocuous-looking bayards to try and console the hostages. 

"Everybody stay calm," Lance said. People were huddled together in small bundles, some even shaking and crying.

"I know you're all scared but we're going to get everyone out, I promise," Hunk agreed. 

Group by group, they led them all slowly down the dim passageways. Lights above them flickered once, twice, and went out, sending everyone into a mass panic. 

"Oh man," Hunk murmured, grabbing onto Lance,  finding him in the darkness where he was calling out for Hunk. "This is by far the worst one we’ve had to deal with."

"I know, dude. The Galra sure picked the right base to target. I think we should turn on the torches and gather as many people as possible," Lance suggested.

"But, won't we get spotted by the Galra? That'll lead them right here," Hunk countered.

"Better than having them run into them by accident, right? The Galra can see in the dark but we can’t."

"Fine. Why don't you get your bayard out, just in case anyone tries to attack. You go this way and I'll take the other end."

In a shower of sparks, their bayards were brought back to life and they flipped the switches on their torches. People swarmed toward them, like moths toward the light. Hunk hushed them, signaling for their silence with a finger on his lips.

Lance motioned for them to follow Hunk and him as they swam through the dark hallway and further out of the base.

—————

"Okay, Pidge, what exactly do we need to get here?" Keith asked, glancing around the room. The lights had all gone out but one; it swung from the ceiling. Keith felt like he was going to get vertigo from that alone.

"We're looking for the new Altean crystal chip and we need to download all the blueprints from that screen over there, then wipe its server." Pidge pointed toward a screen hovering from a control panel in the center of the room. Keith nodded and headed toward the screen while Pidge looked around the room.

Sliding her hand past a panel, a tiny screen popped up and displayed a keypad where she entered the emergency codes. The wall beside her slid open and the microchip seemed to reflect the swinging light. "It was a good thing this was hidden," Pidge muttered.

"And so are the blueprints. I'm trying to get them out of the system but it's going to take a while," Keith said.

The door to the room swung open and large Galra soldiers entered, blasters poised to attack. "Surrender the chip and blueprints," one of them ordered.

"In your dreams," Pidge said and lit up her bayard. Keith already had his sword in hand and charged at him, eyes on the target of the speaking Galra. Remembering to keep his stance low, he swung his sword at the Galra and split them in half just as they fired a blast.

Pidge zeroed in on the one behind him and struck, shocking him in the neck with enough volts to power the whole kingdom. Keith and Pidge nodded at each other and continued taking the Galra out one by one.

Pidge was small but strategies displayed themselves in ordered columns in her head of how she should defeat her opponent.

He ducked and attacked at the right moments, his movements honed by hours of sparring with Shiro one on one. It was the best part of his training, even when he wound up on his back because he knew Shiro would pull him up.

The fire in his muscles burned as he went faster and faster. Tails, fins, claws and other body parts - victims of his sword drifted to the floor. His focus was stronger than steel and the sword was just an extension of him.

Someone grabbed his tail. A second later, grip released, reacting to a shock of electricity that fired through the attacker's body. And then, they were alone again. Bodies were everywhere as Pidge and Keith swam over them. Pidge finished the download and retrieved the chip.

Keith was still poised, muscles like springs to be triggered by more Galra. They stealthily swam out of the room and that was when the lights of the entire facility went out.

—————

The lights went out; the only things to be seen were the Galra soldiers attacking Shiro. They glowed bright amethyst, cyan, violet, and fuchsia. Their usually yellow eyes glowed topaz and chartreuse. Their bioluminescence was a characteristic owed to their use of quintessence. Altea used quintessence for fuel and power, as seen from the markings on the faces of Alteans that glowed softly.

But the Galra used quintessence for immortality and had used it so much, it filled their DNA and flowed in their blood, causing the harsh bioluminescent glow. It was said that this was passed down from generation to generation, making the depths of the sea glow as a warning. And therefore, for them, no amount of quintessence was enough to quench their thirst for immortality.

The bioluminescence was a good gauge of what was coming at him but not enough for Shiro to be able to aim. He swung his club wildly but surprisingly, found nothing. He checked his screen for any signal to call for backup but there was none. He clenched his teeth, tired fingers grasping onto the club tighter.

The Galra swarmed him. Tightening the space between him and them, they enclosed him in a circle of bioluminescence. As much as he hit, their glows grew stronger. Sweat and even blood dripped from his shoulders as claws pierced his neck and across his back. A punch was thrown to his stomach, causing him to falter, body curling in defense. He felt blood drip on the edge of his fin from a long cut across his tail.

Something sharp and hard hit against his head. The glows were too bright and they hurt his eyes. He blinked but they didn’t clear andhis body began to sink, floundering in the harsh bioluminescent light.

Claws grabbed his arms and forced the club out of his clutch. His tail was held in place and one side of it was too painful to move. Grunts escaped his lips as he struggled to gain control of his body again but the effort was futile.

He was sinking and sinking. With one last ounce of strength before he was engulfed in the enemies’ glow, he screamed.

"Keith! Get out!"

—————

The lights were gone and they were fumbling in the dark, literally. "Pidge, they're coming," Keith warned, raising his weapon again. Swishes echoed in the hallway that they had just passed.

"I know, I know, Keith. But the power outage caused a disruption in the signal on my screen. No backup, no map. So this is purely memory here!"

"Then what are we doing? We don't even know where we're going right now."

"If you have a better idea then let me know. But now we go from memory and if I'm not wrong, it should be two lefts and a right to the escape route, which should be a straight path."

"Fine, I just hope we get out of here alive. Lead the way, because they're right behind us."

They swam faster and faster, hands feeling the direction of the walls in front of them. He could hear the tail of a Galra right behind him and Keith slashed behind him and hearing a shout of pain.

It was then he heard it. A shout in the darkness.

"Keith! Get out!"

Keith instinctively turned around. The Galras were already on their tails, they had to keep moving. The call came from at least fifty feet back and behind a left turn. Keith's breathing quickened even though he had just stopped moving. He wanted to turn around and dive back to the voice.

He recognized it instantly. It was Shiro.

"Keith, what are you doing?" Pidge asked and tugged at Keith's arm, but he resisted against her grip.

"Keith, come on," Pidge tugged harder.

"It's Shiro, we-- I need to go back now."

Suddenly, Keith could hear the distinct clicks of weapons being loaded up. 

“They have loaded weapons, we can’t turn around now,” Pidge said, starting to move. But Keith still had his mouth agape and was about to shake his head. 

"Shiro's going to be fine. He's the leader and he can manage on his own. But we can't and we can't possibly defeat the army of Galra behind us. So if you want to live, we go now."

She had a point because if they didn’t go now, they would be the ones that would end up dead. As if on cue, something loud and fast shot past their heads. Keith let Pidge pull him away and swim toward the exit.

—————

Shiro's gills felt a lot smaller suddenly. He felt a sting on the side of his neck, somewhere close to the wounds from the claw. Immediately, his whole body went limp, his tail stopped flapping wildly and he groped uselessly for his lost his bayard a long time ago.

His eyelids were heavy and wanted to sink down like his body. He vaguely felt a bag being pulled over his head. He felt as though he was dissolving and dissolving into the bioluminescent glow and whatever remained was being dragged along a rocky, cold floor.

—————

Princess Allura and Coran swam out and were already waiting with Lance, Hunk and the hostages. Emergency units were all deployed but by the time Keith and Pidge came out, the Galra had already left.

"Okay, so there's Lance, Hunk, Pidge, and Keith. Anybody has seen Shiro?" Coran asked, counting the paladins.

"I thought he made it out?" Hunk asked.

"Yeah, he should have made it out, right?" Lance agreed.

"I thought he did. We heard him though," Pidge said softly.

The realization dawned on Keith, leaving his mouth agape. His eyes widened and without saying a word, he rushed back into the now desolate facility.

The others rushed in after him as he swam blindly through the hallways and rooms. He called Shiro's name but the only response was static. He didn't have any torches on him so the darkness wrapped itself around him, sealing him tight and leaving him claustrophobic.

Someone patted him on the back and handed him a torch. Someone else decided where each of them should split up to check. Someone, probably Lance, followed him around the empty facility. There was no trace of any Galra, living or dead. Not even a drop of blood.

"We're here," Lance announced, leading Keith into the room where they stored the quintessence, where Shiro was supposed to be.

"There's nothing here," Keith murmured to himself, trying to convince his mind to form a narrative of the events.

"There is nothing here," Lance repeated, going around the room. He shone the light at the giant tank of quintessence. It was empty, completely empty. Not a single drop of quintessence left.

"Oh my god, oh my god." Keith trie his mind to wrap around the fact that Shiro was gone, just like that. But he couldn't because to do that would mean his brain would have had to be a black hole to acknowledge what his eyes were telling him.

Keith looked frantically around him, heart finally starting to respond to his state of mind, which was in total chaos. "But how?"

Lance processed it too, but it struck him softer but faster than Keith. "He's gone."

"No, it can't be. How could he even have just disappeared, like that?" Keith asked, voice reaching the point of hysterical. "How? I don't get it. I just don't see it. This just doesn't seem right. It doesn't make sense," Keith continued, shaking his head, trying to clear the shock and the disbelief.

Lance sighed. "The same way the Galra just left. They must have cleared everything up. They must have."

Keith floated there, in the pressing silence that not only filled his throat but his heart. He didn't even know what should be feeling right now.

"The signal's still broken here. I'm going to find the others. You stay here, okay?" Lance said, swimming over to Keith. He patted him on the back and left Keith alone.

Keith looked around, senses hyper-focused on everything they could find. The only evidence that the Galra had ever been there was the destruction of the labs and the lack of quintessence, but otherwise, nothing. Not a drop of blood was left and Keith was sure as hell that they had been plenty of it.

He slowly circled around the room. There wasn't a single sign that Shiro had been there at all in the first place. He shone his torch back and forth around the room, hoping that something would come to light. He was getting desperate, searching for any clue or sign that there had been a struggle could tell him where Shiro had been taken.

One by one, the rest of the team entered the room as Keith circled it like a shark on the trail of blood. Pidge and Hunk sawm around, taking various samples as the others tried their best to look for more evidence. They swam in and out of the room, of all the rooms, and of the entire facility.

"Hey guys, I think we're done here. We here" Hunk said, glancing as he entered the quintessence room after going through the entire facility for what seemed like the umpteenth time.

"I agree, we should head back and try to figure everything out. There's a lot of mess to clear after this attack," Allura responded. Everyone nodded and followed her out, except for Keith. He stayed, staring at the empty quintessence storage unit. What once was filled with potential energy and power now drained out till nothing remained, which was kind of like his heart at the moment.

_ Where could Shiro even be?  _ he wondered.

"Hey, Keith, I-I'm sorry," Pidge apologized. She had been next to him all along, staring at the same spot he was staring but he didn't even know she hadn't left the room yet like the others had.

"I should have let you go back for him. I just," she sighed, "I probably could have gotten out on my own. But we're used to following Shiro's instructions, and he told us to go."

The paladins had known each other for a long time and added on to that, training and missions never failed to bring them closer together. He knew what Pidge meant but he couldn't help biting his lip as she waited for his reply.

His first response was to lash out at her and blame her for it but the thought of Shiro made him calmer, remembering what Shiro had taught him to calm the hot lava of his anger. Instead, with clenched teeth, he said, "Pidge, it's fine. We had to get the intel out. It's over anyway. And it was my fault because I could have just let you go ahead without me. I could have stayed and got him out. But it's over, he's gone." His tone was resigned and he swam out, wanting to just leave this whole event and wake up from it as if waking up from a bad dream.

The team swam back to the castle together, silent as each of them pondered about the future without a leader.

—————

It was dinner time but the team sat in their conference room and picked at the goo Coran had prepared. No one had any appetite to eat after the day's events. Finally, Allura spoke up. "I know no one's really in the mood but we need to sort this out. First on the list is the kingdom. People are terrified and I've already issued warnings about the Galra. Second, do we have any information about the Galra that attacked us and where exactly they may be coming from?"

"We're on that and we just need to analyse a few more results again," Pidge spoke. She poked her head up from behind the screen she had been staring at since she came back.

"Don’t forget the quintessence too," Lance brought up. "They stole everything that facility had, which is actually a lot more than there was supposed to be. God knows what they're going to use it for now."

"Shiro's gone," Keith whispered. His eyes were glazed over and his disbelief felt like a drug haze.

"And we still have no clue where he is," Pidge said, still typing non-stop on her screen. "We went through the place so many times but there's absolutely no sign of him or where he could have gone. There's no evidence he was even there in the first place, which is honestly the craziest thing."

"How? I just don't get how they could clean everything up that fast, like there was no way that's possible," Lance said after a while, his hand cupping his chin.

"Yeah, exactly, because we've tracked through every single piece of surveillance footage, no heat signatures, no trace, because they've either been destroyed or there's literally nothing in the first place," Hunk offered.

"This is something we have never faced before," Coran added. "It's just as if they've disappeared into thin air. Cleaned up too well, too. Not a single drop of blood left at the scene."

"We'll go back to facility tomorrow and search again. They can't just have left like that. It's just not possible. We'll get to the bottom of this. But for now, we need to worry about Altea," Allura said.

Everyone nodded in silent agreement.

_ Maybe Shiro's fine, he can take care of himself pretty well,  _ Keith lied to himself through his teeth.

The next day they went back to the facility and checked and checked and checked. But nothing had changed and nothing new was discovered.

"It's all clear," Hunk announced, closing the door of the facility. "Nothing new."

The following day, Allura and Coran stayed back to deal with the decisions and announcements to all the Mers but only the paladins, or what was left of them, checked again.

"Sorry, man, there's nothing at all," Lance said to Keith, shaking his head sadly.

Keith nodded and looked down at his tail. 

They went back for the entirety of the week but dust was starting to form in the empty facility. No one had been inside or even near it anymore since the incident. It looked sad, desolate and empty, just like Keith's heart as he hovered in front of the building.

"Keith, c'mon," Hunk tugged on Keith's shoulder. "We've been here a week and Allura has got a meeting for us when we get back."

The meeting turned out to be about their further patrols, duties, training, etc. Everything they should focus on but Keith couldn't, he just couldn't. Who would he even do all these things with? Shiro, his best friend, was gone. Sure, he was close to the other paladins but Shiro knew Keith well, sometimes even better than himself.

In the weekly meetings, they decided that they'd continue checking for further evidence. But no one would go beyond the outskirts of Altea, let alone the Galra depths.

"We need to check everywhere, he's still out there, you know," Keith reminded them.

"We are all aware but Keith, paladins are needed here to protect Altea. Besides, no one that has left Altea to go to the Galra depths has ever escaped alive," Coran answered.

"That's precisely the point. It is too dangerous and we each have our own place and role in Altea," Allura added, concluding the discussion.

"I understand." Keith remembered his place and pressed his lips together, not wanting to say more.

—————

It had been nearly a year. The weekly searches had stopped months ago. It was only Keith going there every couple of days. Nothing changed except for the increasing amount of dust motes in the air of the facility. They were planning to tear the facility down but Keith begged at least a couple of weeks more.

Everyone had given up and expected him to do the same.

"I'm glad we can finally put the attack on the Olkari facility behind us. The staff have been taken care of and all of them are working in our other labs. The people have finally stopped speculating about it and know that they should be wary for Galra attacks but know how to better protect themselves because now these Galra attacks will be a thing of the past," Allura announced proudly.

"What about Shiro? Our leader is gone," Keith said, his voice louder and more agitated than it should be. But how could he not care about Shiro? How could the team not care?

"Keith, we did look for him," Hunk answered. "But we can't find anything else on him. Believe me, buddy, we've put in our very best. But I mean we can survive now. We know our roles and what we should be doing so we can be team possible."

"Exactly, we've been searching for months and there's just no evidence. We may as well cut our losses and focus on the priorities. It hurts me to say this, but we've all got to move on," Lance said. He looked hurt to say it but it was a fact that Keith needed to accept.

"Yeah, but isn't anybody concerned about what happened to him? He screamed my name and that was the last I heard from him. I…I…I should have turned back for him. I really should have."

"I know he's a member of our team and we were all close to him. But the priority here lies with the kingdom and with the kingdom's resources. You are all the paladins of the kingdom of Altea," Allura countered.

"So, the paladins are that easily replaced, then?" Keith shouted across the room. He knew he had gone too far with that but no one seemed concerned with Shiro's whereabouts. Everyone stared at him, even Pidge's rapid typing slowed down to a complete stop. No one shouted at Allura ever because she was the head of the kingdom and she had picked the paladins for their respective positions.

"Keith, we all know you were the closest to Shiro but realistically, we just can't do this anymore," Pidge said, trying to soothe the already burning situation.

Keith held up a hand as Lance, Hunk and Coran tried to speak but closed their mouths. 

"Keith, that's not what I meant," Allura said coldly, her tone warning, which meant  _ watch what you say next. _

"No, I know exactly what you mean, Allura. Shiro never gave up on me so I can't give up on him, and I'm  _ sure as hell _ not stopping now."

Just as Allura opened her mouth, Keith turned and headed out the door. He didn't need another scolding about his place. He didn’t need salt added to his wound. He didn’t understand how the kingdom could have come first before their teammate, someone who led them and actually cared about each and every one of them. Keith just couldn't accept it.

—————

He felt like a little kid again. All he wanted to do was sit in a corner and cry his eyes out until someone gave him what he wanted. But what he wanted was gone. But what he wanted was missing. He can't have it. Instead, he sat in his place at the conference room while the paladins, Allura and Coran talked about what they should do, like adults.

And as a kid, no one was there to give him what he wanted. He wasn't spoiled, no, he just didn't have anyone to give it to him. No one guided him more than Shiro did, even though Shiro was only a few years older than he was.

Keith was an orphan, moving from one foster family to another. Too hot-tempered, they said. Potential to be violent, they said. But he was smart, way smarter than everyone thought he was. And he ended up being top of his class and with results like his, he got accepted on scholarship to paladin training school.

On his first day, amongst the crowd of the busy campus, Shiro spotted the tiny Mer with the scarlet tail swimming lost in the sea of Mers, hands tightly holding onto his tablet and eyes wide with confusion and of just being there.

Shiro was in his final year and had already secured a place as a paladin. He was a few years older than Keith and he still had the smile since Keith had caught sight of him. At first, Keith was hesitant, wary because, in his experience, no one was nice to him for long and not without wanting something in return.

Yet Shiro stayed, even thought Keith pushed him away at the start. Gradually, Keith liked Shiro around. And Keith let himself go a little because Shiro didn't push force him to open up, which was incredibly rare. And Shiro was patient, even when Keith lost it so, so many times. He taught Keith how to tame the dragon of his temper.

Shiro was there for Keith, especially when he had nearly exploded at one of the instructors of the school. Shiro had helped him make things right and instead of expelling Keith for his hot-headedness, Shiro promised to mentor him, grooming him into one of the finest students that ended up with the place among the paladins.

_ "Patience yields focus,"  _ Shiro reminded him time and time again, but it soon became his own mantra as he climbed the ladder to be once again, top of the class. He reminded himself of that whenever he felt his temper spur and when he was training.

Memories flashed in the back of his lids, like pictures pasted on walls. He opened his eyes again and tried again to breathe but he could only choke back sobs. His hands flew to his chest, trying to catch his heart, trying to hold it together.  _ Meltdown time, _ his mind announced.

He lay back on his bed and gazed at the glow-in-the-dark stars, nearly faded, attached to his ceiling. They may as well have been pictures of him and Shiro. Tears streamed down his face. If only he had told him something, anything, before he lost him.

Anything would be better than that last look of hope gone, faded. Everyone else had gotten over Shiro, finished grieving over him, but he hadn't. Shiro had never given up on him so he couldn't give up on Shiro, ever.

One of the stars, close to a corner of the ceiling, fell. It may as well have been symbolic of Shiro's loss. It fell into a darker corner of the edge of the bed.

Keith cried until his lungs told him that he couldn't hurt them anymore. Choked breaths escaped his lips as he wiped away tears with the back of his hand. He considered not picking up the star that had fallen because all he wanted to do was roll over on his face and flop his tail into the air and cry some more, but the star had been a gift from Shiro because Shiro had bought extra ones and knew he liked space, too.

Keith flopped off the bed and scooted toward where the star was. It was lodged in a crack in the rocky floor. He reached his arm around the edge of the bed and prodded at the star, urging it out of the hole. His tail flicked as he reached deeper into the corner to get the star. Finally, his fingers managed to pull the star out of the crack.

The ceiling could have crumbled on Keith because that was how hard the realization hit him. He looked around at his home. It might be the last time he would see it but it didn't feel like home anymore; it lost its familiarity with him and he didn't want to find it.

He grabbed a backpack from his closet and packed his essentials and whatever else he thought he may need on the long journey. He opened the shared folder of information on the case on his screen and pored over it and jotted down possible locations and signs of where Shiro might be found. He dropped many pin markers all over the map of Altea and the Galra depths. They looked like glowing orbs guiding his path, and with each mark, a step closer.

He made sure he had spare energy for his screen, and most importantly, his screen had the map of Altea's darker, deeper depths. He took along his special blade just in case things heated up.

He took one look in the mirror, making a solemn promise.

_ I will find him. _

—————

Stopping by the kitchen, Keith grabbed the all the items he had stashed away for emergencies because Shiro was an emergency. The gates of the kingdom were unlocked and the sun was starting to peek out from the darkness.

From his planning, it would take him a couple of days to reach the Galra depths but what worried him more was the fact that he did not know the Galra depths. But he would cross that bridge when he got to it.

The determination in him was harder than any metal or rock. He knew it would lead him straight to Shiro.

 

**Author's Note:**

> There's more to see in this ocean.
> 
> Come talk to me at Misttiique on [Tumblr](https://misttiique.tumblr.com/) and [Twitter](https://twitter.com/misttiique). 
> 
> The gorgeous art that inspired this fic is from the artist Laura and you can find her on [Tumblr](https://starlaynes.tumblr.com/), [devianart](http://koru-ru.deviantart.com/) and [Twitter](http://twitter.com/_koru_ru).
> 
> Thank you to the lovely Avid Beader ([Tumblr](http://avidbeader.tumblr.com/) and [Twitter](https://twitter.com/avidbeader)) and Penny ([Tumblr](http://rubestie.tumblr.com/) and [Twitter](https://twitter.com/p_ennu) for helping me beta this fic.


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